S11.E05: Pastry Week

[Athena]

Quote

It's Pastry Week and the bakers put their stamp on a Cornish classic in the signature, go retro in the technical, and make a showstopping classic tart hidden within a cage made entirely from pastry

 

[Aulty]

Everybody seemed in a much better mood this week, including the judges. I hope I'm gonna be as spritely as Prue in my 80s.

I'm not into baking architecture, but the collection of challenges this week was ok. I want a pasty now, almost all of them sounded very tasty. Might plan some for the weekend. Dingle Pies?

Good task for the technical, but all the eclairs looked a mess.

I don't think we actually saw the judges taste the cages, which was odd. Pantomime girl's creation wasn't  a tarte - more like a large mille feulle - and in any other series that amount of isomalt would have gotten at least one raised Hollywood eyebrow.

Congratulations Laura (although I was routing for Hermine). No surprise on Linda leaving - the editing of this episode was very predictable.

Matt and Noel's jokes are a bit of a hit and miss. I think they pair well, but some stuff falls noticably flat. Even though it was a lame bit, the thought of a Con Air era Nicolas Cage watching Homes under the hammer is quite amusing.

[Ceindreadh]

Poor Linda, it just really wasn’t her week, was it?

I think she’d have gotten away with making samosas rather than pasties if her other two challenges hadn’t gone so badly. 
 

Was it a lack of flour they said was the problem with her eclairs?

At least as far as technicals go, pretty near everyone would likely have known what an eclair was supposed to look like. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Linda definitely jinxed herself when she said at the beginning of the episode that shse knew how to make pastry. I couldn't believe that she made her eclair pastry three times and failed miserably each time.

To be fair, a lot of those eclairs looked pretty terrible. At least this time, they didn't have the excuse of "I don't know what ______ is/looks like." Some of them were ridiculously small. Did they really think they were going to puff up THAT much in the oven?

While I didn't mind the cage aspect of the showstopper challenge (because a tart on its own isn't really showstopper material visually), I hated that it seemed like a producer driven decision that was made in the hopes of having more disasters. Unfortunately for the powers that be, Linda's and Mark's were the only ones that ended up not working. Everyone else's were fine. I don't recall seeing either of the judges try eating any of the cages, which seems to underline the point that they were just an unnecessary construction aspect for the challenge.

The fact that Lottie did some research into what actually constitutes a tart means that she KNEW the judges were going to say that what she made wasn't a tart. I don't understand why she didn't just make a tart with sides instead of going with something that would give them the opportunity to say that she hadn't fulfilled the challenge requirements.

The judges were picking and choosing who to criticize in the signature challenge. If crimping is a necessary part of a pasty, then why did only Linda get penalized for not having crimps? Lottie's shapeless blobs didn't have crimps either but they kind of barely mentioned it and then glossed it over.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes

Signature challenge: pasties
Mark’s aloo gobi & paneer pasties
Laura's leek, potato, and pancetta pasties
Hermine's Moroccan tagine pasties

Technical challenge
Raspberry and salted caramel éclairs

Showstopper challenge
Peter's blackberry and lemon tart

 

Linda's exit interview

[Lois Sandborne]

Laura???

[Corgi-ears]

Challenge: Pasties

Linda *makes samosas*

Challenge: Eclairs

Linda *makes churros*

Challenge: Tart

Lottie *makes pastry stack*

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[Danny Franks]

Yeah, Linda really didn't do herself any favours, did she? I admire her tenacity, in presenting something in the Technical but, man those withered, overbaked churros looked sad.

Mark was lucky, because his collapsed pastry cage looked even sadder.

Pasties were new. I don't recall the show doing that before, and they're certainly a very popular British food. As a young kid, I remember my mum buying meat and potato pasties from our local bakery, and having one for my lunch while watching cartoons. Such a fond memory. That same bakery did the best eclairs too. Not refined, but huge and uneven and amazing, filled with cream and topped with chocolate.

Another good Lottie line, when talking about Prue calling her original - "I'm gonna take that with me.... Home probably, but I'm still gonna take it." Her toad in the hole pasties sounded interesting. I wouldn't touch Peter's haddock and egg ones with a ten-foot pole, though. Urgh.

Laura really flew under the radar to get star baker. I wasn't expecting that. Thought Lottie or Peter might have it (although Lottie probably scuppered her chances by daring to use a definition of tart that Paul didn't agree with). Laura's showstopper did look great, though.

I usually really enjoy pastry week, but this just felt a bit low-key and lacking in excitement. Not sure why.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Danny Franks

[ElectricBoogaloo]

5 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

Pasties were new. I don't recall the show doing that before, and they're certainly a very popular British food. As a young kid, I remember my mum buying meat and potato pasties from our local bakery, and having one for my lunch while watching cartoons.

Pasties aren't a staple of GBBO but they've been done a little bit in previous seasons (and on other versions of the show).

Cornish pasties were the technical challenge during pastry week way back in S1. A few of the bakers made them for their signature bake during pastry week during S5.

On the Great Australian Bake Off, the bakers had to make pasties as part of their showstopper challenge during pie week in S1. A few contestants made pasties for their signature bake during pastry week in S2. During classics week of S5, the signature challenge was savo(u)ry pastries and all but one of the bakers made pasties (the other baker made samosas).

On the Great Kiwi Bake Off, the bakers had to make Cornish pasties for the signature challenge during international week.

[TVbitch]

I only eat cage-free tarts. (I oppose dessert cruelty.) While some of the cages were nice, it made it hard to get a good look at the tart. But, at least some of them were beautiful to look at this week! 

I continue to be beguiled by Prue's necklaces. They are all obviously made by the same designer ...or by one of her grandkids. 

[dleighg]

For the raspberry eclairs, what was the pink strip on top? Fondant? I didn't see it mentioned. Peter seems to have very good technique. 

Laura's key lime tart reminds me of a lime tart someone did on a previous season, that I actually reproduced myself. It also had ginger and italian meringue. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by dleighg

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

For the raspberry eclairs, what was the pink strip on top? Fondant? I didn't see it mentioned. Peter seems to have very good technique. 

Laura's key lime tart reminds me of a lime tart someone did on a previous season, that I actually reproduced myself. It also had ginger and italian meringue. 

I thought it was fondant too, based on the way someone (?) was shown rolling it.

I didn't watch carefully, but did Laura use actual key limes to make her tart?  If not, then it's technically not key lime pie.

And yes, Lottie produced a Napoleon, not a tart.

[Kohola3]

Clearly we couldn't see every step of Linda's struggle with the eclairs but how the heck could she screw them up more than once?  Did she miss some key ingredient? I am no baker but have managed to make eclairs successfully.  

Seems like they are groping for weird ideas for showstoppers these days.  Caged tarts?  Dumb.

[dleighg]

18 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

Clearly we couldn't see every step of Linda's struggle with the eclairs but how the heck could she screw them up more than once?  Did she miss some key ingredient? I am no baker but have managed to make eclairs successfully.  

 

I assume whatever recipe she had in her head was just plain wrong (as I think the instructions were: "make the choux"). It looked like too much butter and too little flour.

[AZChristian]

22 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I assume whatever recipe she had in her head was just plain wrong (as I think the instructions were: "make the choux"). It looked like too much butter and too little flour.

I think Paul even said, "No flour."  There had to have been some, but obviously not enough.

[leighdear]

They need to quit with the crap, just go back to seasons 1, 2 & 3 and re-use the damn challenges.  They were good for skill evaluation, made sense and had enough creativity.  Except for Paul, the judges and hosts are all different.  It would be fine. 

I've seen a show where they made "hand pies", but don't know if it was this one.  Pastie, hand pie or whatever else they call it,  it's a good challenge.  But for my tastes, the savory ones need to be served hot.  The fruit or sweet ones, like turnovers I like fine room temp. 

I didn't see any actual Key limes on Laura's workstation, but she could have used a good quality bottled Key lime juice.  Several good brands are easy to mail order if they can't find it locally.  I can't see them getting fresh Key limes in for just that one challenge.  One bad lime and her tart is toast.  You can get bottled Nellie & Joes almost everywhere.

[Kohola3]

28 minutes ago, leighdear said:

I've seen a show where they made "hand pies", but don't know if it was this one

Yes, this was one of the techical challenges in season five.  The dolly had them all flummoxed.

[theatremouse]

On 10/21/2020 at 3:27 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The judges were picking and choosing who to criticize in the signature challenge. If crimping is a necessary part of a pasty, then why did only Linda get penalized for not having crimps? Lottie's shapeless blobs didn't have crimps either but they kind of barely mentioned it and then glossed it over.

I didn't read that as picking and choosing, for two reasons: the first being it was clear Lottie had crimped but they lost the definition in the baking when the butter melted. Paul even said the definition was lost. Whereas Linda's were clearly not even attempted to be crimped. It's the difference between "did part of the brief poorly" and "skipped part of the brief".

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, leighdear said:

They need to quit with the crap, just go back to seasons 1, 2 & 3 and re-use the damn challenges.  They were good for skill evaluation, made sense and had enough creativity.  Except for Paul, the judges and hosts are all different.  It would be fine. 

I've seen a show where they made "hand pies", but don't know if it was this one.  Pastie, hand pie or whatever else they call it,  it's a good challenge.  But for my tastes, the savory ones need to be served hot.  The fruit or sweet ones, like turnovers I like fine room temp. 

I didn't see any actual Key limes on Laura's workstation, but she could have used a good quality bottled Key lime juice.  Several good brands are easy to mail order if they can't find it locally.  I can't see them getting fresh Key limes in for just that one challenge.  One bad lime and her tart is toast.  You can get bottled Nellie & Joes almost everywhere.

That's what I use.  I didn't think that would be available in the UK.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, leighdear said:

I've seen a show where they made "hand pies", but don't know if it was this one.  Pastie, hand pie or whatever else they call it,  it's a good challenge.  But for my tastes, the savory ones need to be served hot.  The fruit or sweet ones, like turnovers I like fine room temp.

 

2 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Yes, this was one of the techical challenges in season five.  The dolly had them all flummoxed.

For non-US viewers, the hand pie technical challenge was from the pie episode of UK S3 (2018) aka US PBS S5 and US Netflix "The Beginnings" collection 1. You can watch a clip about the dolly here.

 

[MisterGlass]

I think they made clangers one year too.  All the pasties looked good, and I was glad this improved over last week's brownie debacle.  Peter's fish were quite nice looking.  I liked his cereal box stencil.  And my vocabulary word for this week was kedgeree.

The eclairs were all over the place.  I'm very recipe dependent, even for things I've made a dozen times, so I felt bad for them not having the details.

I noticed Prue broke bits off some of the cages.  She was holding a green leaf in one shot, and I noticed later Dave's pastry was missing a section.  I think they did try bits, but apparently didn't mention it.  That said, it was a lot of pastry to not count for much.  It was a bit like the time that they did the chocolate domes that they poured hot ... cream? chocolate? over to reveal what was inside.  Showy, but not really core GBBO material. 

Something about the editing made me think Laura was in the running for star baker.  They lingered a bit on her pasties even though they weren't particularly decorated.  I would have thought Peter had the edge, especially since he wove his dome.

I'm not surprised it was a Linda but I'm sorry to see her go.  She has a warm presence, and she did some nice things on the show.  Gypsy tart was another new one to me.  It sounds like it's part of the way to dulce de leche.

[sharifa70]

Noel’s voice is so soothing. I could listen to him all day.

Poor Linda - she just couldn’t get a break. Good for Laura, but I was really expecting it to be Hermine. 

I went from being appalled by last week’s brownies to being in love with just about every pasty this week. I really want to try my hand at home-made pastry. Also: key lime tarts are my favorite. 

Only problem is, after my failed baking attempts last week I didn’t get around to burning that sage to get rid of my bad kitchen mojo, and yesterday my oven went out on me. Can’t get a repair person out for another two weeks so now I’m a sad baker with bad kitchen mojo, a broken oven, and a huge pasty craving. This is not my week, y’all.

Edited October 24, 2020 by sharifa70

[Quilt Fairy]

On 10/20/2020 at 3:22 PM, Aulty said:

Matt and Noel's jokes are a bit of a hit and miss. I think they pair well, but some stuff falls noticably flat.

Only some?  The opening bit was - well, I don't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't funny.  And Noel's Paul Hollywood "jokes" are neither funny nor appropriate.  It's stuff Sue could have gotten away with, but Noel can't.  Geez, I missed Mel and Sue this episode. 

[Irlandesa]

47 minutes ago, MisterGlass said:

I noticed Prue broke bits off some of the cages.  She was holding a green leaf in one shot, and I noticed later Dave's pastry was missing a section.  I think they did try bits, but apparently didn't mention it.  That said, it was a lot of pastry to not count for much.  It was a bit like the time that they did the chocolate domes that they poured hot ... cream? chocolate? over to reveal what was inside.  Showy, but not really core GBBO material.

They definitely tried it.  They mostly focused on the looks but I am pretty sure Prue raved about Hermione's cage.  Was that the one that broke?

[sharifa70]

41 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Was that the one that broke?

Yes, if you mean the one that broke when Paul lifted it (as opposed to the ones that broke during assembly).

[dbell1]

I didn’t know how much I missed the words “rough puff pastry” until I watched the show. 

Whoever does the drawings of the desserts deserves all the awards. Beautiful every time. 
 

[kittykat]

Overall a very entertaining pastry week.  Absolutely no surprise Linda went home, all three challenges were pretty much a disaster.  Marc L almost broke curse of the Star Baker until he pantsed the showstopper.

The challenges:  loved the pasty one, it’s always nice to see everyone do well to mostly ok, which is what happened.  The Eclairs technical was a classic Prue “take a simple idea and decorate it to hell.”  The salted caramel ones looked scrummy.  As for the showstopper, yeah it seems like a lot of kitsch.  Kind of like the chocolate dome challenge from S9.  With the exception of Marc and Linda at least they all did well.

I want to be happy for Laura winning Star Baker because I do like her but Hermine was robbed.  She did great straight across the board (2nd in technical when Laura was 6th).  It’s not really her fault that Paul destroyed her cage.  I wish I could see more of how they landed on Laura.  It seemed along the lines of “she’s improved so much” whereas Hermine has been consistently good but in the always a bridesmaid category.  I don’t know.  Good episode overall. 

I will be trying pasties here soon, yum yum.  I did notice that most used puff or some form of flaky dough, I always assumed pasties were hot water crust but I suppose any of those work.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

34 minutes ago, dbell1 said:

Whoever does the drawings of the desserts deserves all the awards. Beautiful every time. 
 

Meet The Great British Bake Off illustrator: Tom Hovey

more about his process

You Can Buy Those Cake Illustrations from 'The Great British Baking Show' - Prints start at £15 ($19) for A5 size (5.8 x 8.3 inches), and £25 ($32) for A4 (8.3 x 11.7)

The Great British Bake Off illustrator Tom Hovey on money, style and drawing food all day

[dleighg]

 

3 hours ago, kittykat said:

The Eclairs technical was a classic Prue “take a simple idea and decorate it to hell.”  

I thought the raspberry ones were rather garish. I mean, fondant, and then powdered-pink-something (maybe freeze-dried raspberries?) But why the fondant? They would have looked, and tasted, better IMHO with just a sprinkle of the powder.

[Kohola3]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

I thought the raspberry ones were rather garish. I mean, fondant, and then powdered-pink-something (maybe freeze-dried raspberries?)

Every time I have had fondant (which is rarely, I admit) it's kind of tough or stiff.  Seems like if it was topping an eclair you'd take a bite and it would squish down the casing and the filling would squirt out.  I don't think too many people cut eclairs with a sharp knife do they?  Don't you usually eat them by hand?  At any rate, I agree that they looked garish.  

7 hours ago, kittykat said:

Absolutely no surprise Linda went home, all three challenges were pretty much a disaster.

Didn't she get good remarks in the Signature?  Aside from the lack of crimping they raved about the taste and pastry.

[blueray]

On 10/21/2020 at 7:41 AM, Lois Sandborne said:

Laura???

My exact reaction. It should have been Hermine (sp). She did good in the signature challenge, second in the technical and they liked her show stopper. It's not her fault that Paul broke the cage. Even if it was Peter or Dave it would have made sense. Laura seemed to be out of the left field. 

[blueray]

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

Every time I have had fondant (which is rarely, I admit) it's kind of tough or stiff.  Seems like if it was topping an eclair you'd take a bite and it would squish down the casing and the filling would squirt out.  I don't think too many people cut eclairs with a sharp knife do they?  Don't you usually eat them by hand?  At any rate, I agree that they looked garish.  

Didn't she get good remarks in the Signature?  Aside from the lack of crimping they raved about the taste and pastry.

I took it as she didn't actually follow directions. She made a samosa and while they liked it, it wasn't exactly what they were asking for.  Then obviously her techical was a disaster and her cage fell apart before judging.

[leighdear]

With all the competition seasons they've 94 shows with 3 challenges each week.  A total of 282 different challenges.  They can have another Madeline challenge, or another scones challenge.  Repeats of a theme are not a fail!

The producers seem to have a need to create some never-before-seen type of baked good from some obscure place nobody has ever heard of to embarrass the contestants into making something that's never going to be what the "experts" say it should be.   I LITERALLY believe at this point, they're just making some of this sh!t up. 

I still love the show, but it's gone the way of many competitions by trying to be TOO everything.  Unique, clever, inspiring, etc.  It's always been good enough in the original form. 

And are the "Hollywood Handshakes" now just grudging "Hollywood Head Nods" to the really good ones?  Have I missed some, or is their baking just not good enough?

Edited October 24, 2020 by leighdear

[Sharpie66]

A few seasons ago, Paul was handing out handshakes willy-nilly, so I think he has been very parsimonious with them since.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, leighdear said:

And are the "Hollywood Handshakes" now just grudging "Hollywood Head Nods" to the really good ones?  Have I missed some, or is their baking just not good enough?

He's given out one or two this year, but I don't remember to whom.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I hope I'm gonna be as spritely as Prue in my 80s.

Criminy, is she really in her 80s??

Are pasties strictly a British thing? I've never heard of them before. Over here we call them Hot Pockets 😉

I agree with Laura: I want to put a mini Peter in a cage and feed him cheese. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by iMonrey

[Quilt Fairy]

3 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Are pasties strictly a British thing? I've never heard of them before

I don't know if they're unique, but Cornish pasties were created to give Cornish miners an easy to carry meal that they could hold in their hands and eat.  The only place I've seen them here is a small Wisconsin town that was settled by the Cornish. 

[Irlandesa]

8 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't know if they're unique, but Cornish pasties were created to give Cornish miners an easy to carry meal that they could hold in their hands and eat.  The only place I've seen them here is a small Wisconsin town that was settled by the Cornish. 

They're quite big in the Upper Peninsula in MI--probably for the same reason.  When I visited, they were advertised everywhere there.  I think I've seen some in MN too but I don't know if it's because of Cornish roots or if they're starting to spread as a food trend.  I mean, we have empanadas, calzones...etc. Food pies are pretty popular.

[dgpolo]

19 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

2 hours ago, leighdear said:

And are the "Hollywood Handshakes" now just grudging "Hollywood Head Nods" to the really good ones?  Have I missed some, or is their baking just not good enough?

He's given out one or two this year, but I don't remember to whom.

Yes, he gave one to someone last week I think? If you are talking about this week, he had a problem, if even only a small one, with everyone's bakes this week, no matter how much he liked them there was something that prevented the handshake.

Also, I tried to count but I didn't pause anything so I could be wrong. There appeared to be 6 fridges for the 8 bakers left. (had nothing to do with this episode but someone in a previous thread thought there was one for each baker)

[WatchrTina]

1 hour ago, dgpolo said:

There appeared to be 6 fridges for the 8 bakers left. (had nothing to do with this episode but someone in a previous thread thought there was one for each baker)

I wish they would just give each competitor a refrigerator/freezer from the very beginning in the same way each one has their own cooking area and oven.  I recall some of the drama over shared freezer space in the past and they are my least favorite memories of the show.  I don't want man-vs-man conflict on this show.  I'm in it strictly for the man-vs-nature (time, heat, difficult ingredients, etc.) drama.

[libgirl2]

On 10/23/2020 at 12:45 PM, Kohola3 said:

Clearly we couldn't see every step of Linda's struggle with the eclairs but how the heck could she screw them up more than once?  Did she miss some key ingredient? I am no baker but have managed to make eclairs successfully.  

Seems like they are groping for weird ideas for showstoppers these days.  Caged tarts?  Dumb.

And they didn't even eat the cage! Someone should have made a wire one if they weren't going to! 

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't know if they're unique, but Cornish pasties were created to give Cornish miners an easy to carry meal that they could hold in their hands and eat.  The only place I've seen them here is a small Wisconsin town that was settled by the Cornish. 

There is a place in Traverse City, MI that makes them. I haven't tried them yet when I have been there though. 

[rlc]

I really wish Lottie would put her hair in a bun. I keep expecting Paul to pull a hair out of his mouth after trying her bake.

[Kohola3]

24 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

There is a place in Traverse City, MI that makes them. I haven't tried them yet when I have been there though. 

They are pretty much a staple food in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Lots of immigrants who were miners and each nationallity had their preferred fillings.  You can get them in pretty much any part of the UP.

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, Kohola3 said:

They are pretty much a staple food in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Lots of immigrants who were miners and each nationallity had their preferred fillings.  You can get them in pretty much any part of the UP.

I saw them elsewhere on a menu. I am still kicking myself for not having one! 

 

1 minute ago, Kohola3 said:

They are pretty much a staple food in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Lots of immigrants who were miners and each nationallity had their preferred fillings.  You can get them in pretty much any part of the UP.

 

[leighdear]

 

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

They are pretty much a staple food in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Lots of immigrants who were miners and each nationallity had their preferred fillings.  You can get them in pretty much any part of the UP.

My MIL was from Michigan, and she grew up with them.  But as an adult, she baked them as a single pasty, like a pot pie.  Just ground beef, onions, cubed carrots and rutabagas, with a top crust.  Not much seasoning (they ate very plain food) and my FIL would put ketchup on top of his serving.  Not my favorite, I can see how jazzing up the filing & serving them hot would be delish.  I actually love just about anything baked in a crust, as long as there's flavor!  

The bakers seemed to have a dryness problem, which is always going to be hard to balance when you have pastry that can leak it all out as it cooks.  Brings to mind those Totino's pizza rolls that manage to almost always lose their filling before they're done!  *LOL*

[janie jones]

15 hours ago, kittykat said:

 It’s not really her fault that Paul destroyed her cage.

I can't imagine he squeezed the cage that hard (unless he reflexively grasped harder when he realized it was coming apart). I think the pieces were poorly adhered.

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

They're quite big in the Upper Peninsula in MI--probably for the same reason.  When I visited, they were advertised everywhere there.  I think I've seen some in MN too but I don't know if it's because of Cornish roots or if they're starting to spread as a food trend.  I mean, we have empanadas, calzones...etc. Food pies are pretty popular.

Yeah, whenever I see them, they're called "hand pies," but I feel like pasties, empanadas, and hand pies are basically the same thing with your choice of filling.

[AZChristian]

Don't be jealous, but we actually have a company called Cornish Pasty Company here in Arizona with several locations.  We've eaten there . . . and loved it.

I'm making a roast tomorrow, and am buying (cheating, I know) some pie crusts to make pasties with part of the leftovers.  Haven't made them before, but recipes didn't seem that difficult.  And I WILL crimp those edges!

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

And I WILL crimp those edges!

exactly 20 (or 21) times!

[kittykat]

Gotta love Paul giving Marc crap about not telling him the amount of crimps then being all " it's 20...or maybe 21." Not your best save there dude.

[Kohola3]

4 minutes ago, kittykat said:

Gotta love Paul giving Marc crap about not telling him the amount of crimps then being all " it's 20...or maybe 21." Not your best save there dude.

Those are Pasties According to Paul.  I have not seen recipes where that is defined and I've seen lots of them.  Yoopers know their pasties!